Pre-Combustion Desulfurization of High-Sulfur Coals by Advanced Coal Cleaning

摘要

The energy requirement in Korea is expected to reach 188 million TOE by 2010. The resources of energy include petroleum (50%), coal (23%), nuclear energy (17%), natural gas (7%) and renewable energy (3%). Almost all of the energy requirement would be met by imported resources. Inevitably some of the imported coals would be high in sulfur, containing high pyritic sulfur. Such pyrite in high-sulfur coals can be eliminated efficiently by using advanced coal cleaning technology, making the pre-combustion desulfurization more economic than the post-combustion flue gas desulfurization whenever it is applicable. A four-year advanced coal cleaning study for the pre-combustion desulfurization of high-sulfur coals is underway as part of the Korean National Clean Energy Technology Program. Current study includes a nominal 500 Kghr process development unit (PDU) study, as well as various laboratory investigations. Some of the unit processes selected are rare earth magnetic separation for the coarse size fraction, heavy medium cyclone for the medium size fraction and column flotation followed by enhanced gravity separation for the fine size fraction. Among many coal samples being studied one was obtained from Hebei, China under the cooperative research agreement between Korea Interfacial Science and Engineering Institute (KISEI) and Beijing Research Institute of Coal Chemistry (BRICC), Central Coal Mining Research Institute (CCMRI), Beijing. The current status of the present study is described in this paper.